Problem - Leetcode

You are given an integer array height of length n. There are n vertical lines drawn such that the two endpoints of the i<sup>th</sup> line are (i, 0) and (i, height[i]).

Find two lines that together with the x-axis form a container, such that the container contains the most water.

Return the maximum amount of water a container can store.

Notice that you may not slant the container.

Example 1:

Input: height = [1,8,6,2,5,4,8,3,7]
Output: 49
Explanation: The above vertical lines are represented by array [1,8,6,2,5,4,8,3,7]. In this case, the max area of water (blue section) the container can contain is 49.

Example 2:

Input: height = [1,1]
Output: 1

Constraints:

• n == height.length

• 2 <= n <= 10<sup>5</sup>

• 0 <= height[i] <= 10<sup>4</sup>

Answer-1 in Golang

func maxArea(height []int) int {
    left, right := 0, (len(height) - 1)
    result := 0

    for left < right {
        area := min(height[left], height[right]) * (right - left)
        if result < area {
            result = area
        }
        if height[left] > height[right] {
            right--
        } else {
            left++
        }
    }
    return result
}

func min(a, b int) int {
    if a < b {
        return a
    }
    return b
}

The code implements a solution to the "Container With Most Water" problem using a two-pointer approach. This problem involves finding the maximum area that can be formed by choosing two lines on a coordinate plane and a vertical line drawn between them. The goal is to determine the maximum area that can be enclosed by these lines and the x-axis.

Here's a detailed breakdown of the code:

1. maxArea function: This is the main function that calculates the maximum area for the given array of heights.

2. left and right pointers: These pointers are initialized to the start and end of the height array, respectively. They will be used to represent the two lines forming the "container" whose area we want to maximize.

3. result variable: This variable is used to store the maximum area encountered during the process. It's initially set to 0.

4. for loop: The loop runs while the left pointer is less than the right pointer. This loop iterates through different combinations of lines to calculate the maximum area.

5. area calculation: The area is calculated using the min function to find the minimum height between the lines represented by height[left] and height[right]. This height is then multiplied by the width, which is the difference between right and left. The formula used is: area = min(height[left], height[right]) * (right - left).

6. Comparing and updating result: The calculated area is compared with the current value of result. If the calculated area is greater, it becomes the new result value, storing the maximum area encountered so far.

7. Pointer movement: Depending on the heights of the lines at positions left and right, either the left pointer is moved to the right or the right pointer is moved to the left. This movement is done to explore different combinations of lines and find the optimal arrangement that maximizes the area.

8. min function: This function takes two integers as arguments and returns the minimum of the two.

9. Returning the result: Once the left pointer is no longer less than the right pointer, the loop exits, and the function returns the result, which represents the maximum area that can be formed by choosing two lines from the height array.

In essence, the code uses a two-pointer approach to iteratively consider different combinations of lines and calculate the areas formed by them, eventually finding the maximum area possible. The algorithm optimizes the search by moving the pointers strategically based on the heights of the lines being considered.